Men sleeping in car receive time served

BANGOR, Maine — Two Honduran men caught sleeping on March 19 in a car in a Lubec parking lot have been sentenced in U.S. District Court to time served.

Virgilio de Jesus Gonzalez-Garcia, 29, and Alex Martinez, 38, who had been held without bail since their arrests, are expected to be turned over to immigration authorities for deportation.

Both waived indictment and pleaded guilty in April to re-entry after deportation.

Information about what the men were doing in Maine and whose car they were sleeping in was not revealed in court documents.

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Each man faced up to two years in federal prison and fines of up to $250,000. Under the prevailing federal sentencing guidelines, they faced between zero and six months in prison.

A Washington County sheriff’s deputy found the pair sleeping in a car parked outside a nursing home, according to court documents. The deputy called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents because he suspected the men were in the country illegally.

A records check showed that Martinez was deported in 2003, but he told officials he returned about five years ago when he walked into the U.S. near McAllen, Texas.

Gonzalez-Garcia was deported in 2005 and said he returned on foot at Nogales a few years ago.